Options for A1200

[Sim085]

Hello,

I recently added an A1200 to my collection. I am now looking at upgrading this. I am quite familiar with the hardware available for the A500/A500+ but must admit I never followed news about new hardware release for the A1200. I know there is an accelerator card ACA 1230/28. The reason I know of this is because I was reading this could be attached to the A500+ through another add on.

The first upgrade I am looking for is an accelerator card. However before buying anything i was wondering what more can I do with an 060 card which I cannot do with an 030 card? I am not planning to use this for video or music editing. However I do wish to connect to the Internet and play some games.

I was also wondering if there is a project similar to Zeus for the A1200?

[ajk]

An 060 is useful mainly for 3D games, e.g. space and flight simulators, first person shooters and things like that. It's also going to be much faster with any kind of desktop use, including Internet browsing. For the majority of 2D games you aren't going to need an 060 over an 030.

[Sim085]

Originally Posted by ajk

An 060 is useful mainly for 3D games, e.g. space and flight simulators, first person shooters and things like that. It's also going to be much faster with any kind of desktop use, including Internet browsing. For the majority of 2D games you aren't going to need an 060 over an 030.

Thanks ajk for your reply. is an 030 not good enough for internet browsing?

[liviux76]

Originally Posted by Sim085

Thanks ajk for your reply. is an 030 not good enough for internet browsing?

No, unfortunately a 68030 is very slow for internet browsing. It is enough just for textual sites (a few images, no javascripts) or for ftp sites but actually web browsing with a 030 is not an enjoyable experience (IMHO)

[ajk]

And to be honest it's not great with an 060 either, but certainly more bearable

[Sim085]

Originally Posted by ajk

And to be honest it's not great with an 060 either, but certainly more bearable

Well my aim is mostly to be able to say "I connected to the Internet with an Amiga" and maybe download some amiga applications.

So 060 option only through old hardware right?

Regarding FPGA solution: I did a quick search here and found the following:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...ght=FPGA+A1200

Is this an FPGA Accelerator card for the A1200? (like Zeus for A500)?

[ajk]

I have not really followed the developments but as far as I know FPGA's aren't fast enough to rival an 060. Maybe in the future.

[Sim085]

Originally Posted by ajk

I have not really followed the developments but as far as I know FPGA's aren't fast enough to rival an 060. Maybe in the future.

I went through the thread and I realized this is not for the that FPGA solution is not for the A1200

[DDNI]

I use Aminet and this forum in mobile mode on my 030 A1200. General browsing of modern sites is painful.
FTP is the best use of the internet for our old 030 machines.

[crazyc]

Yeah I use an 060 and really apart from Aminet to pull down files, using my a1200 for the internet is more proof of concept than a good experience.

[source]

If you are just going to be doing gaming most will work well with just an 030 through WHDload. If you are going to dabble with 3D rendering you will need more than the ACA. Most rendering software available requires a math co. that the ACA does not have. If you are going to do 3D rendering get an 060 just because of the extra horsepower you will want if you are making complex scenes. an 060 also makes printing to newer ink jet printers more bearable. An 030 with HP inkjet will take 30 minutes to print a decent resolution page.

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by crazyc

Yeah I use an 060 and really apart from Aminet to pull down files, using my a1200 for the internet is more proof of concept than a good experience.

Yes, while some things are very bad, some other sites are very usable with a 50mhz 68030, as long as you use IBrowse and have javascript turned off. Sites like EAB actually run quite nicely. Certainly not unusable at all. Google is even fast with javascript turned off, and there are probably plenty of other useful sites which are usable with IBrowse. The real 'problem' is that all the sites look like crap.

[Sim085]

Thanks for all the replies. I am considering to go for an 030 since it seems to be the only option available on the market.

So far I have always used Workbench 3.1 on the Amiga; should I consider upgrade to Workbench 3.9 or an 030 would not be enough for that?

[crazyc]

If you are only playing games, then not much point. But if you want a nicer wb then sure. I used to run 3.9 on my 1230 before I upgraded.

[Sim085]

I was wondering; what other hardware would you people consider as essential for an A1200?

[ajk]

This would be my list of A1200 essentials:

- a hard drive (often a CompactFlash card + adapter these days)
- an 030 and 16-32MB of fast RAM to be able to run the majority of games and software comfortably
- a way to transfer stuff to the A1200 - a card reader of some sort or an Ethernet card in the PCMCIA slot will do nicely for this
- depending on what you have for a monitor, an Indivision or other scandoubler may be useful
- some decent speakers/amplifier - audio built into displays is pretty bad most of the time
- a nice mouse (or two) and joysticks

[crazyc]

Originally Posted by ajk

This would be my list of A1200 essentials:

- a hard drive (often a CompactFlash card + adapter these days)
- an 030 and 16-32MB of fast RAM to be able to run the majority of games and software comfortably
- a way to transfer stuff to the A1200 - a card reader of some sort or an Ethernet card in the PCMCIA slot will do nicely for this
- depending on what you have for a monitor, an Indivision or other scandoubler may be useful
- some decent speakers/amplifier - audio built into displays is pretty bad most of the time
- a nice mouse (or two) and joysticks

Perfect - just add an auto mouse/joystick switcher.

[Sim085]

Originally Posted by ajk

This would be my list of A1200 essentials:

- a hard drive (often a CompactFlash card + adapter these days)
- an 030 and 16-32MB of fast RAM to be able to run the majority of games and software comfortably
- a way to transfer stuff to the A1200 - a card reader of some sort or an Ethernet card in the PCMCIA slot will do nicely for this
- depending on what you have for a monitor, an Indivision or other scandoubler may be useful
- some decent speakers/amplifier - audio built into displays is pretty bad most of the time
- a nice mouse (or two) and joysticks

Thanks for that list It really helps out.
Regarding mouse; would a pure Amiga mouse be preferred over something like this?

Also; are there any USB solutions? USB would be fantastic to transfer stuff from PC to A1200!

[ajk]

An adapter for a modern mouse is a good idea, at least if you can't find one of the better Amiga mice (most of the old ones are really clunky and of course not optical).

For the A1200 there is a USB solution called Subway. It's going to be significantly more expensive than one of those PCMCIA options, though.

[Retrofan]

Originally Posted by DDNI

I use Aminet and this forum in mobile mode on my 030 A1200. General browsing of modern sites is painful.
FTP is the best use of the internet for our old 030 machines.

I`m posting with an ACA 1230/56 and sites like this run very fast with IBrowse and RoadShow. I don`t use the mobile version, just AmiKit Real and 64 colors. Of course I won`t try to enter YouTube or something, but all of the Amiga forums run right, very fast indeed... If you want I can make a video.

Edit (this posting with my C=64 ): With my next AmiKit Real update you can boot (option) with Rainboot and a progress bar, but it will be a bit slower -of course- the booting, and even slower while using RoadShow and Wifi like I've been doing to post the post above; but after the booting it all runs fast with Magellan. I've been reading the full thread of AK Real on News, full of images without problems like you can read all of the threads here. The images get remapped and look great with just 64 colors.

I would recommend to you to get a second hand ACA 1230/56, much cheaper than a 060, and also a Fast ATA MKIV.